Piston ring



March 4, 1941. c. A. MARIEN 2,234,159

PISTON RING l Filed April 6,- 1939 3 C C ffl/Hilf fmm- 6 5 4 www? L ,1J ifi/Mummy J Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES ,PATENT OFFICE PISTON RINGl Application April 6, 1939, Serial N0. 266,251

I 3 Claims.

' My'invention has relation to improvements in piston packing rings and consists of the novel The invention is directed to that type of piston ring 'in which a thin steel segment is combined with a; cast iron ring element, and an inner ring or expander spring is utilized to augment the pressure oi the cast iron ring and the segment against the cylinder wall.

It is essentially the object of the present invention to provide a piston ring having relatively high unit pressure against the cylinder wall While obviating some of the defects that have heretofore existed in high unit pressure rings. A common method of obtaining high unit pressure is to diminish the cylinder contacting surface of the cast iron ring by notching or channeling this v surface on one side. The presence of such channel not only reduces the cylinder contacting surface but also brings about an unbalanced condition in the ring itself so that the strain to which the ring is subjected in compressing it within vthe cylinder causes a distortion or twisting thereof whereby the ring ltilts in the piston ring groove and presses more rmly against the sides of the groove, resulting in an effective seal at the sides of the piston ring groove, and thereby preventing blow-by" behind the ring. I avail myself in my improved construction of .the advantage of this ring distortion but protect the side of the groove from wear by a Ithin steel segment which also serves effectively to remove'encess accumulations of oil from the cylinder wall.

Furthermore, in my improved construction I avoid sharp corners such as occur in channeling and undercutting of the ring, and thereby eliminate pockets in which successive accretions of oil can build up and carbonize to reduce'the ring eiiciency.

These advantages, as well as others inherent in the invention, will be better apparent from a detailed description thereof in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the head end of a piston with parts broken away showing three piston ring grooves, .the upper being equipped with' a plain type of compression `ring and the two lower grooves being equipped with my improved compression ring; Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation of my improved ring with part broken away to show a erom-section of the ring and not under compression as it would be.

within the cylinder; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the cast iron member of the ring assembly shown under compression which is its condition within the cylinder, and distorted or dished owing to its unsymmetrical cross-sectional area. In the figure fthe distortion is exaggerated. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectionaldetail taken on 5 the line 4, 4 'of Fig. l; Fig. 5 is an edge view of the polygonal expander spring; Fig ol isa crosssectional detail of a common type of piston ring having its outer cylinder contacting face undercut according to well-known practice in which l0 certain defects are inherent and which are over.- come by my improved construction; and Fig. 7 is a side elevation of a modied form of cast iron ring member showing the bevel face stopped short of the ends of the ring. i5

Referring to the drawing, P represents a con ventional piston operable within the cylinder C, said piston being. provided with piston ring grooves g, 9'. g', in the upper groove g of which is disposed an ordinary one-piece piston ring l, 20 and in the second and third grooves g', g are disposed piston rings 2, forming the subject-matter of the present invention and hereinafter described in detail.

My improved piston ringy 2 embodies three sep- 25 arate elements combined in a manner 'to function .to the best advantage and each contributing. as will hereinafter be apparent, to the functions of the others. According to my invention a cast iron rin'g member 3 has the width of its 30 cylinder contacting surface li reduced by a beveled face 5 extending entirely around the circumference of the ring and intersecting with the bottom side face t at an angle of approximately 30.' A thin steel segment 'l-is placed in the piston ring 35 groove immediately adjacent .to the face 6 of the ring 3 and an inner ring or expander spring 8 I is disposed in the groove according to established practice so as to exert its pressure against both the ring 3 and lthe steel segment 1. When the o ring d is under tension within the cylinder C it becomes slightly distorted, as shown in Fig. 3, and the -side face 6 thereof bears againstA the segment 1 with considerable pressure so that the entire assembly forms a very effective seal against the passage of oil around the ring and through the ring groove g'. In the old forms of ring such as illustrated in Fig. 6 wherein no steel segment was utilized, the bottom side face 6' of the ring 3'A would gradually wear into the wall w of the groove g as illustrated.l However in my improved Y construction this wear cannot take place since the thin steel segment is interposed between the groove wall and the ring 3 and is of suilicient i hardness to resist such Wear.

'The advantage of the beveled surface s (Figs. 2 and 4) over the right-angle undercut (Fig. `6) is'that there vare no corners present with a beveledsurfacev in which carbon accumulations can gather, but instead there is a continual wash of oil over the smooth surface I," and periodically small increments of this oil will enter the space betweenthe ring 3 and the segment 1 when kthese members are momentarily separated during the operation 'of ,thepiston ring. In .f the construction shownln Fig. 6 the corner a forms a dead space in which oil may stagnate land carbonize and little by little theparbon will build up as shown by the dotted lines b until ultimately the entire undercut will be filled with carbon.

From the foregoing description .it should be readily apparent that the advantages of my improved piston ring construction may be summed up as follows:

l.' The thin steel segment which operates Vas an oil scraper makes the ring more effective in controlling oil than a lcompression ring without such thin segment.

Y2. The outwardly presented bevel reduces the unit area and thus increases the unitv pressure Without introducing crevices for` the accumula.- tion and carbonization of oil.

3. 'I'he unbalanced cross-section of the ring allows for tilting vof the ring in the piston ring groove without cutting into the sides of ythe groove because the lateral pressure of the Y 'shortened sid'eface is received by the hard ythin l llly total pressure.

segment. V

4. The thin steel segment removes excess oil and thereby prevents thehydrodynamic pressure In the old style of ring (such as shown in Fig. 6) the hydrodynamic pressure of theI oil. against the vertical wall of the circumferential groove collapses the ring radially. whereuponlt moves away from the cylinder;wall and allows oil and ga's to pass by.

In the modied form shown in Fig. 'I the bevel face 6 does not extend lentirely around the cir-- cumference of the ring 3 but stops Just short of the ends 8, Bof the vring to provide end walls or dams I0, Hl. These dams l0, l0 will prevent the flow of oil from the oil pocket ll formed 'between the bevel face 5 and ring segment l.

Having 'described my invention, I claim:

1. A piston ring assembly comprising `a reia' tively wide split ring member and a relatively thin split yannular segment in juxtaposition therewith, said ring member having oppositely disposed ilat side surfaces. a cylinder contacting surface, and a bevel surface intersecting the lcylinder contacting surface and the lower side surface, and saldannular segment lying con- 'tiguous to the lower side surface of the ringv member and being of greater radial depth than the radial depth of the lower side surface of the wide ring member to form an oil channel with said bevel surface.

2. A piston ring assembly comprising a relatively wide split ring member and a relatively thin split annular segment in juxtaposition therewith, said ring member having oppositely disposed iat side surfaces. a cylinder contacting surface, .and a bevel surface intersecting the cylinder contacting surface and the lowerside surface, and said annular segment lying contiguous to the lower sidesurface of the ring member and being of greater radial depth than the radial depth of the lower side surface of f the wide ring member to form` an oil channel with said bevel surface, andv a spring expander within the ring assemblyand bearing against at least the ring member.

\ 3. A piston ring assembly comprising a relativelylwide split ring member and a relatively thin split annular segment ,in iuxtaposition therewith, said ring member having opposltely disposed at side surfaces and a cylinder contacting surface, the outer periphery of the ring member being undercut by a bevel of approxi- I mately 60 withthe cylinder contacting surface, and said'cylinder contacting surface beingapproximately one-half the vwidth of the ring. and

said annular segment having a cylinder contacting surface and lying adjacent to said bevel to form an oil channel with the ring member.

' CHARLES A. MARIEN. 

